Workshop
by Tachibana Wish
Summary: Unpolished bits for practice and play, or Tachibana really needs to learn how to write happy things and longer pieces. Drabble and random idea repository, basically. #6&7: With enough string, you can play cat's cradle. Everything ends up tangled together.
1. Stray Dog

_Stray Dog_

* * *

What she finds herself doing is something only for the bored, the insane, and the masochistically stupid. Zero would have never considered herself any of the three. She had never considered herself anything, before, really. Maybe the last one fits now. It's certainly a good description for her passenger, at least.

_Awed and whispering, the little one shifts inside her heart, almost on tip-toe. "Look!"_ Twisted underneath and between the bottom of a ridge, their skull hits dead rock when her chin shoots up. Any discomfort disappears immediately, purple eyes locked onto a trio of black boulders down below. Thick, lava-like veins weave across their surface, bulging with life. The lines pulse steadily with an orange glow, regular like a heartbeat. _"Are they going to hatch?"_

There's so much warmth! Zero knows her companion is excited, though she can't figure out the other emotions just yet. She desperately wants to. They feel good. But she knows to be the voice of reason before Nora talks her into doing anything. "Not touching."

_"I **know**._" Annoyance. And a persistent desire to do just that. Zero realizes she's smiling –both of them- and thinks they've stayed long enough. There are no dragons here to see, maybe luckily, and she has no desire to be found in one's nest when they come back.

Even backwards, climbing back into the cavern proper is only a little harder than it had been getting out. In the dark, her little one's mind tries to nudge closer to her own without being noticed. Zero returns the sensation with something like a hug, catching a hint of exhaustion. "Go home."

The dark haired girl's arms prickle, hairs bristling._ "Don't wanna."_

Something's off. Doesn't sound right. Still, Zero tries anyway, pushing before Nora can dig in and root herself in place. Letting her go to sleep here had ended badly before, and the thorny memory still squeezes the older girl's heart painfully. It _hurts_ now, in fact. "Walk's long."

_"You promised to let me see one!"_

Suddenly, the feeling of hair brushing against her face and fingers twitching inside metal gauntlets is magnified tenfold. So is the way her body shudders, disturbingly because that's never happened before, arms moving to cross themselves in a makeshift hug when the full force of the cave's draft catches Nora by surprise. She's not used to being tall and it's not usually dark when they're together, so startled lips are already trying to ask for help. "Ah-" Eyes readjust to the lack of light, somehow able to see the cavern floor far, _far_ down below and how irrationally small the foothold they're on is just before they tip forward.

Zero pulls the younger soul back gently, barely snagging her out of their shock before it's over. Not much time is left to land upright and the fighter's just relieved they don't end up speared on one of the many stalagmites snarling up from the cave floor. Uneven rock slams into her back with an uncomfortable crack anyway, jaw and everything else rattling. It feels like something important has snapped behind her and one hip is definitely too high compared to the other one, lurching up over the bottom of her stomach to glare at her for treating it so roughly.

_"I'm sorry!"_ Terror, guilt that seems to be cracking her chest open from the inside. Unable to hide anymore, an aftertaste of salt and deep loneliness comes to the forefront full-strength, dragging its way through everything slowly. _"Please don't get mad. I didn't mean it. Let me stay. I.. I d-don't.."_

Zero's eager to do anything to make the deep-seated ache resonating with the pain in her bones go away, opening her mouth maybe a little too quickly. The short slip of being a marionette has made her uneasy, even if the puppeteer is the little girl she's turning inward to wrap up in hopeful arms now. "It's fine."

Reassurance only seems to make things worse, and Nora's crying again while Zero holds tighter, a jolt stabbing through her shoulders. "Stop."

_"Hic.. p-ple..ease. I-I'm s-sorry!"_

Just worse and worse.

* * *

**An: **So, instead of studying or working on SL, I end up wasting time with this. Just a little nothing snip born of the desire for cuteness and the question "what happens when other people kill Dragon Slayer's dragons?" Didn't get quite that far though and the cuteness kind of died. As for why I picked Ninja Zero Two and random young OC... they're just unlucky.

Whether this continues as its own thing or turns into a kind of dump for refining ideas I'd like to use elsewhere who knows? *shrugs* Likewise, any connection to other fics is questionable at best. Enjoy if you can.

**Disclaimer:** ... anyone going as a lawyer for Halloween?


	2. Metempsychosis

_Metempsychosis_

* * *

The empty world is waiting to be filled. The flame that has watched it for so long has almost burnt out. She's dying and so very _tired. _Regrets, responsibility, and remembered promises are slipping loose, ties to life faded and fraying like the ribbons on a bride's corpse.

The empty world shifts, melting and sloshing together with something else to create a new realm. Curiosity tries to pry her eyes open, but new memories she has yet to make suffocate it like a comfortable pillow. Fading is warmth and comfort and cotton, but she can't leave yet. She has to find them. The empty world has always been easily changed, and for a while, it can watch itself.

The world of death dies. Dreams and stars flutter out of its ashes, painting colors on the souls and hearts of those it draws into itself.

* * *

**An:** Short, vague, and sweet, right? Not an OC this time. You get three guesses. Also, a plug: Black Rock Universe. A fan-made tabletop based on the Ova. Check out Google docs and add the following extension: file/d/0ByC2LFIujbrgOWQxNmZlYTMtNDB kMi00YzQxLWE5NmItMGM4MTgwNTg yYzFk/edit?authkey=CI6JgY8G&hl=en&pli=1


	3. Blue Orange with BW Stripes

_Blue + Orange With Black&White Stripes_

* * *

_It's not love. _

"I do like just being friends with you, but I think I might ask you out one day. Not now, when all this isn't such an issue, maybe."

_It's new, hurtful, bitter, self-inflicted, obsessive, and maybe even slightly worrying. Wanting someone, tamping down an urge to be possessive where's there's no right to be, is certainly something she hasn't had to deal with before. Never mind the one-sided intensity of a first crush, being unable to be honest out of fear makes those words sound like an idle thought. It isn't, or she doesn't think it is, but sharing too much would probably make her seem like more of an emotional basket case than she thinks she actually is. _

"That is a long way off, but you're still just a friend. I'm not looking for anything else."

_It's not like the perfect girl, Irino herself, didn't warn her at the start of whatever they are. Her sister and her own common sense too. It's not love, just like. And it hurts. But she really doesn't have a right to complain about suffering she's brought on herself. Especially when a little bit of courage to speak could resolve this unknowing. _

"I'm afraid."

_It might not end well. Remembering every minor detail about her from your conversations is sure to chase her off if a random crying jag doesn't first, but-_

"Heads up, Saw Girl."_ There's a sneer someone's wearing. Not too far away, there's a sad spark of determination that can't snuff itself out even though it'd like to, if that would make things any easier. Hearts are two-faced without meaning to be, complicated, messy, and just generally stressful creatures. She won't part with it, though, and she knows more than half of her is happy for it. _"I can't let myself give up that easily."


	4. RedPink Ambivalence

Red/Pink Ambivalence

Maybe she's been going at this wrong.

_Overcoming these feelings was never possible. They knew that. Now, wedged on the serrated edge of an impossible blade, Saw's iron heel crushing down on her throat, one of them is convinced they didn't truly want that to begin with. _

She can't have Irino.

_Her Other is hissing, bloody sputum flying around the corners of the horned woman's boot as metal fingertips fight to pry it off, digging into the foot and entrenching themselves like the tips of a can opener. Closer than before, she's surprised at the barest twitch of a wince beneath the drowning red that is Gold Saw's eyes. It's surprising that the other woman can feel that when everything below her knees seems to be metal itself, and she can't break away from that gaze when she wonders if Irino is in pain as well, unaware when pink froth taints the spittle flying from her own lips._

Can't.

_Surely, Saya can't see her. _

Just a friend.

_She doesn't want Irino to see her. Not wallowing in self-pity like this! The snarl rattling in her throat stops weakening and snaps, snatching at air greedily with an enraged howl. The weight that has been resting itself on her windpipe is dislodged, crumpling under angry claws and desperation. Even if they're not reciprocated, she wants to keep these feelings! Even if they're rejected and unwanted, they won't change. She can love Saya as a friend at the least! She doesn't have to hide it. _

"Don't die. Don't you dare die!"

_Agony is flapping around the tatters of her chest, ribs free of flesh and blade. She can't remember how she ended up on her feet again, nor trapped in a crouch a few feet from where she'd been, wild, doglike noises scraping to escape her throat. Black hair is matted uncomfortably between her eyes, sweat hot and cold burning the scrapes in her skin. She hears her Other's taunts, wordless and faint, blood red, red, red, and it **hurts** so bad. _

"Wake up!" She swears she feels someone shaking her, black lights blinding. Shoes squeak on a polished floor, pain erupting deep underneath her skull like a spike trying to drill it's way to the surface. Sensations, thoughts, and words jumble together, spinning in a haze that feels like she's falling even though she'd already hit the floor when she passed out before. "Listen to me, idiot!"

_She can't understand anything. Maybe she shouldn't want to. All she knows is that she doesn't want to lie down here, and Gold Saw is recovering from whatever they'd done. She didn't remember. Right now, she has to live. Has to get up and fight. Has to grab and maim the hand holding that sword until its useless and can't lift that weapon against her again._

Dry oxygen blazes down her throat, clammy plastic pressed against her face. It feels like an elephant is parading around on her chest, foot stamping in tandem with a wild cacophony of trumpets and an unskilled chorus. Her attention locks on too-red brown eyes, drowning in them. It's the only thing her twisting mind can focus on.

_Run away._

She can't.

_Run away_.

Not a coward.

_It's infuriating. The King of this domain and every slobbering, pathetic soul she's dragged into it, being beaten down like a newborn. She's going to claw her way back up this crevice and rip that bitch's throat out one sinew at a time. The other self snarls, gauntlets dragging trenches through the cavern wall when she slips a few inches, hanging suspended above the trash heap of their world. Grayed, empty shards of humanity's desires rot below, inferior. She gnashes her teeth, rage reaching a boiling point, veins bubbling and muscles scalding from the inside_ out.

"Can you hear me?"

So lost. Everything's pounding. She wants to fall back and close her eyes.

_There's a black castle with no gate and step-less stairs buried in hell. The King returns, stewing in her rage, a vindictive Beast waiting. Gold stars and white hearts play at the edge of its territory, tending to other evils. A time will come.  
_

* * *

**AN: **Possible the vaguest, most unpolished snippet in this jumbled mess so far. M'actually thoroughly confused myself on how this turned out. Really need to get back to studying... and forums and PMs and SL. ;;; Wonder if there'd be much interest in seeing a mostly OC fic though.


	5. Rated M

**An:** You are advised that this contains somewhat sexual situations. Very OOC.

* * *

_Idiosyncrasy_

* * *

She did not want this. She does now. Velveted fingertips mock a space between her ribs, hand bare of the gauntlet worn before. Still encased in metal, its twin has her own wrists locked and broken, bones creaking against the lion-like strength of Mato's bitterness. The not-girl nuzzles her prey's shoulder in fake affection, feral grin widening. It's no mystery why, heartbeat bruising her own ears. "I think you do like me."

This isn't right. Driving that home is too-blue eyes ripping through Dead Master and roving over Yomi underneath, secrets laid bare. She could answer the bluenette's feelings now, but this was not what she wanted. And this Black Rock Shooter wanted to devour her completely, it was carved on the warrior's face and wracking her soul. "Mato, please.."

No recognition. The face in front of her was void of anything except smug cruelty, a ridiculous turnabout. Dead Master felt her black heart curling in fear and frowned, lips twisting in disapproval before biting the mocking grin in front of her.

Yomi cried out, bones grinding to powder above her. It was a sound that stayed locked inside her counterpart, tongue occupied with an all too wanting mouth.

Closer, careful not to crush her 'captive,' despite herself, Black Rock Shooter pushed herself to claim her victim's invitation. She failed to collect on the prize, pulling away from Dead Master with a blank gaze. It wasn't thoughtful, merely an empty lull in her need to eat. She hated this green witch more than any Other. What kept her?

"Mato." Purring, Dead Master's voice was accompanied by her tongue flicking the beast-like gunner's jaw. It was familiar and incredibly new, a darker reflection of the voice belonging to someone important. Who? "Mato Kuroi, you're going to make me cry."

Yomi was already crying. There was no point in warning the black haired monster with her friend's face either. Black Rock Shooter's eyebrows knitted together in a grimace, smirk falling into a thin line. "I want to kill you."

No, needed to. So that was why her claws stripped the woman's sides. Not why they stopped just short of digging through flesh, scrapes shallow though. "I'll kill you." She wasn't shaking. Pressing herself flush against Dead Master, she wasn't clinging. "I'll kill you, kill you, kill you.."

"You love my little Princess, don't you." The evil queen was smiling herself, absolutely sure despite her wrists still restrained and useless. There was no question. Envious green eyes stared into raging blue that was impossible to find in reality. "Then let me have a look at you."

In an instant switch, the hand restraining her was gone. Yomi was keenly aware of her body, not her body, and the one on top of it. Rock had nearly crumpled, hugging her so tightly the heiress was afraid she was going to be crushed anyway. "M-Mato..?"

Again, no answer besides desperate lips claiming her own. Not ravishing, starving. Yomi arched against the wall behind her unwillingly, bone wings fluttering without any hope of escape. Her knee fell trapped, wedged between the criminally little amount of black material making up her captor's shorts.

Rasping, Black Rock Shooter's hiss smothered itself in the front of her blouse leaving the girl flushed and writhing when the woman pushed into her. Yomi felt overwhelmed, terrified and confused by a growing need to have the gunner's warmth as close to her as possible. It seemed more important than anything else, and she only wanted to keep it here, to take Mato home where they were supposed to be.

Then unclawed fingers found a way under Dead Master's dress and squeezed, earning a gasp that let an eager diner feast on her mouth again, drawing the horned woman's tongue out teasingly. Yomi did not know which of them groaned, too dizzy with heat while Rock's teeth moved on to nick her neck. "Go home."

Dimly aware something was said, Yomi struggled to understand. "W-what?" Skin that wasn't hers was incredibly soft and somehow perfect against her own. Ruined, her top had been split carelessly down the middle, barely guarding decency.

Mato's hands were both ungloved now, who knew when, running up her sides lovingly. "Leave." Dee was practically supporting the woman on her knee now, unconsciously gripping Rock's back helpfully. "Don't come back." Despite the words, she's still pushed up against a wall, and still growing hotter.

What comes next is no mystery. Yomi does not witness it, sitting up so abruptly she nearly makes the nurse between her and the bed spill a bag of fluids. She apologizes furiously, shakily getting to her feet. She barely spares a glance at the bed-bound form of her friend, eyes closed in permanent sleep and breathing slight, before bolting.

She never asked for this.

* * *

**En:** This was written very hastily (and very poorly) as part of an inside challenge. It was also written because I'd like to see Mato be the batshit yandere one for once and Yomi go do some rescuing.


	6. Alternate

_Alternate_

* * *

Login: jester

Password: *******

Password authentication okay

R.A.I.L.S. authentication okay

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

R.A.I.L.S. ver.1.1.12

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

jester %load Brigt_and_Right_System

Booting ARCANA…

The new application is slow to start. He waits impatiently. There are other things he has to Beta if he wants to get enough to cover his books for cram school this semester. Mom has already pinched enough money, but it's too much like they're choosing between him and his sister. Hiro wants her to just stop worrying about him so incessantly and start taking care of herself.

That probably more a forlorn hope than any chance of continuing to pay for Mato's hospital care doing any good though. Mothers are good at tearing themselves apart for their children's sakes and he has had the best mother anyone could ask for. Even if she has become a little overbearing the past few years, that's not her fault. He blames the accident for that.

Rather, he blames the stupid little bitches that had pushed his sister down a stairwell without ever thinking of the consequences. And he blames the girl that Mato had cried over not coming to school days before that. But Yomi Takanashi could not help her disappearance and there was no use hating a dead girl, so Hiro reminds himself to be angry at the ones who deserve it before getting back to his work.

Finally, a blip similar to water dripping rings in his headphones. ARCANA has started up and he can see...

"Hello? Are you able to hear me?"

There is an eerily familiar girl calling to him, starry eyes blazing with a literal flame. Something about this does not feel like it belongs in the game.

* * *

**En:** Since BRS Arcana is Japanese only, I obviously don't know a thing about the canon plot. Nor do I own it.


	7. Alternate Second

Alternate Second

* * *

After months of wandering -and not a little sitting in silence- she found something. The world was still barren, growing ever more so. Humanity's last testament was the endurance of its creations. Buildings nearly collapsed and roads bulging with rot are still recognizable, but hardly shadows of their former selves under the ruin. And she, herself, is also such a creation. One that endures almost despite itself, except unlike these inanimate structures, she keeps walking these lonely and dark roads because a tiny hope blazes in her chest.

After months -of thinking humanity extinct and aliens killed- she found something, someone with venomous green eyes that glance down at her with disdain. The woman's features mark her as a demon, alien, enemy. Horns and spindly wings are not what she wanted to see, but Stella holds out her hand peacefully. She does not want to fight, and she is tired of being alone.

It is surprising how heavy disappointment weights her down when the green haired woman draws a scythe, skull sentries plummeting into the replica with the force of a meteor.

_xxxxxxxxxx_

Mato wakes with a jolt, half-memory details already fading in the glow of her alarm clock. She struggles to at once remember and forget the absolute terror her nightmare caused, jumping again when her pajamas brush her shoulder. For some reason, she thought it had been gone..

It does not bother her much except that she thinks she remembers being buried alive. The same feeling has been plaguing her ever since realizing how she felt for Yomi. It is too hard, too frightening to think of explaining her feelings to the older girl. But eventually there comes a point she has to say it. Selfishly, for her own sake, maybe. There is something about that sad, faraway look in those refined eyes Mato can't help detesting. She would give everything she had to make Yomi happy.

So too, apparently, would her fiance.

Mato never gets an answer. She never finds out if she had made a mistake, who Yomi would have chosen, or if she hurt the other girl. She assumes she had. There's no other reason for her to be missing school.

It doesn't matter. There is an especially horrible day of traffic. Four cars are entirely shredded when a transport truck slams on his brakes to avoid an idiot who had ignored the traffic light. No one on the train hears about it until after class, but it is all they talk about afterwards.

There is a group of girls that gossip for no reason, spreading dirty thoughts and twisting truth. Whether they do so carelessly or with malicious intent, it makes her blood boil.

_xxxxxxxxxx_

Rock thinks she's been here before. It's hard to tell. The world of boundaries and forsaken souls is barren, memorable only when stagnation begins to form and life's lost illusions try to cushion the fall. There was a sudden outbreak of that with the Black Stars broken or gone, but the slight young woman thinks it has gotten better now.

She's seen almost everyone off, even her former comrades - though none of them had fought together - and there is no presence coming from this terribly imposing Gate.

The black haired girl glances over black steel and wonders why she remembers it. "Ron?" Her companion is silent for once, usual chatter failing him. The thing is impressive, scraping heaven's door while it towers over them in wait. She thinks it wants to open and suddenly, it's not just a hulking piece of metal. There are stars and beautiful white feathers woven together, warmth and softness so precious and comforting they're almost painful. It's too hard not to cry, even though she's incredibly happy for reasons beyond her.

_xxxxxxxxxx_

Today is the first day of Middle School, but the opening ceremony threatens to draw away the excitement bounding in her chest. She wants to bounce and look, find all the places to explore rumors with Yuu later. Maybe even look at-

She trips. Some other girls run into her actually, while she's distracted with flowers. There's a delicate, almost white hand that bothers reaching out for her at least. "Are you okay?" Red string leaves her distracted, staring at the girl's wrist for a moment before Mato follows it up to the owner's face. "T-that's fine. I'm okay."

Kotori Asobi.. it's a nice name. But incorrect. Actually, that girl's name is Yomi.

* * *

**En:** Because sandbox. And while these kittens are all adorable, I can't take care of em. At this point, this is my way of putting them out on the street free to good home.


	8. Captured Concept

Captured Concept

* * *

They wanted to come here, live in this world over the clouds where freedom was their own. Liberty wreathed in chains and human bodies, stripped of memory and power. It works. Hunger is still king. Unnamed and unsated, it barely causes any noticeable discomfort. Just a sense of strange want. They have their selves, individual and mostly intact. That was decided to be enough before slipping into reality.

Their eldest is discontent. She doesn't know it. Life is filled with interesting people and exciting events. Yet it does not feel full. The feeling is strange and hard to pin down. She doesn't ache for anything. There's no void to be filled. Finally, her friends convince her to blame it on wanderlust. Big brother has never been the brotherly type, but Marduk as a human is abundantly sociable and borders on annoying.

Their youngest is fine. Up until the point she's dragged into a Breakdown and nearly erased, torn to shreds and **_gone_**. Except that Dyaus is tied to an idea that has always and will forever be an essential part of mankind's will. The contradiction is enough to make everyone's inner nightmares stir, and leaves downtown Tokyo roiling with distortion until reality manages to firmly get a grip. With a little assistance their sweet sibling doesn't appreciate, of course. The runt cat has never liked being torn limb from limb, nor did he fancy humans getting away with it. Mainly the blonde is just angry and heartsick. Except being responsible for the largest number of freak lightning strikes this century, both girl and lion have been blotted from casual memory.

Their last is a fiend. There's no use talking and less fighting, although there is a group of Paradoxes that very nearly take care of the problem child for them at one point. The snake is up to something. Stench follows her and rot leaks out with words when she speaks, rancid. She is continuously causing trouble without an apparent reason. It doesn't make much sense until they're wandering through an underworld Marduk's soul has dug inside itself. Their last is also their first, and decides to wrangle her siblings' bad behavior. Eventually she severs a leash for them, leaving them confused and hurt, but better for it.

Everything considered, the three of them are well entertained. Life is hilariously cruel at times, and filled with joys they can appreciate now. More often at the same time. But it works out. They have decided they like it here. Which leads to some uncomfortable questions about how to pay for the property damage when someone tips off the local police..

Community service might be fun?

* * *

**En:** Vague original charrie nonsense; BRS Tabletop referenced.


End file.
